Puberty is a human right! It is a necessary passage from childhood to adulthood and it is essential for physical, mental and emotional maturity.

Puberty blockers are issued to gender-incongruent children at an alarming rate despite the fact they have never undergone a comprehensive clinical trial for such use. 

These drugs are known to cause irreversible harm, yet many countries around the world are refusing to investigate the risks and instead have doubled down to make it almost mandatory for medical practitioners to issue the harmful drugs to children. 

Some countries are now walking back their decisions.

Known scientifically as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues, puberty blockers work on the brain to stop the rise in sex hormones - oestrogen and testosterone - that accompany puberty. For years, they were prescribed to young patients with gender dysphoria (those who feel their gender identity is different from their biological sex). But in March 2024, NHS England stopped the routine prescribing of puberty blockers to under 18s, as part of an overhaul of children's gender identity services.

NHS England said in a policy statement: "There is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of PSH [puberty suppressing hormones] to make the treatment routinely available at this time."

In the UK, the only way these harmful drugs can now be obtained is for clinical trials. But the question remains, how ethical is it to experiment on vulnerable children this way?

Prior to the explosion of issuing puberty blockers to children, those who experienced gender incongruence went through puberty with support such as counselling, most of these adolescents reverted to identifying as their natal sex once they became adults. 

Most gender-confused children do not get to experience puberty now due to governments legislating “affirmation-only” practices.

We are now seeing this trend beginning to reverse as Nordic countries, the UK and even New Zealand have wound back, paused or outright banned the drugs due to the lack of data and clinical evidence for their use.

Now the big debate is focussed on whether or not to conduct clinical trials on children. 

Some insist these experiments must take place, while others strongly advocate for treating children with non-medical interventions for the sake of their wellbeing.

There is already clear evidence that puberty blockers cause bone density issues and can impact healthy brain development. 

They also often cause infertility and result in zero sexual function, which no child can fully consent to as they don’t have the maturity or experience to measure it.

Dr Louise Irvine is a GP and co-chair of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender which says it is cautious about using medical pathways in gender dysphoric children. She says: "Given that puberty blockers by definition disrupt a crucial natural phase of human development, the anticipated benefits must be tangible and significant to justify the risk to children.

"In pushing ahead with a puberty blockers trial, we are concerned that political interests are being prioritised over clinical, ethical and scientific concerns, and over the health and wellbeing of children."

The NHS adult gender services holds data that tracks 9,000 young people from the youth service. Some argue that this should be scrutinised before any trial goes ahead as it could provide evidence on, among other things, the potential risks of taking puberty blockers.

It is utterly abhorrent that this has come so far. 

Children deserve far more from the adults in their lives; adults who are meant to be committed to safeguarding them. 

The fact remains that the majority of gender-confused children also have underlying issues such as Autism, trauma, depression, eating disorders or other mental health issues. 

These are the things medical practitioners are supposed to support their patients through, not intervening with dangerous pharmaceuticals that rob children of the human right to pass physically, emotionally and mentally into adulthood. 

Puberty is a human right and there is no excuse for medically experimenting on children who cannot consent.

It steals their future and ultimately their true identity.